The latest MRI shows that Max’s tumor has shrunk, the cancer is responding to the latest chemo regimen. This encouraging news helps us get through the long and painful days of treatment. Max had surgery yesterday to insert his port then started his second round of chemo. He woke up today throwing up with a bad stomach ache so more drugs on board to help him sleep through the pain.
Max has been through such a beating this past 6weeks and we finally have a small break from the hospital coming up. If all goes well we should have approx 10days at home to care for him through this next nadir with only a few shots and a couple of visits to the hemoc clinic. Knowing Max he will rebound quickly and be full of life and fun and ready to play with all his buddies. 
Posted on 31 July '10 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Avatar Max completed his stem cell harvest in 2days, 6.4million cells. We get to go home for two days and Max feels great which makes our whole world a happy place. Next up is surgery in 2 days to remove the dreaded aphaeresis catheter, good riddance tubes, hello swimming, hello summer. Well at least a bit of summer, next round of chemo starts the day after surgery. 
Posted on 28 July '10 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max harvested 3.5million stem cells yesterdy and has another 1.5mil to go. The stem cell harvest is done the same way the t-cells were harvested at the national cancer institute; an aphaeresis machine sucks all his blood thru a centrifuge. We are banking the stem cells now while he is strong with the hope to never need them; stem cell transplants are extremely harsh and risky, they are a last line of defense.
The first round of chemo went as well as can be expected with 6 straight days of IV infusion of Ifosfamide, Etoposide and all the supporting meds and fluids. On the 4th day Max had such severe abdominal pain that they had to give him morphine to get through the night. After chemo Max had a few days of nausea and throwing up before starting to feel better. He hit his nadir (blood counts close to zero) on day 9 and he started to approach a fever, he managed to stay just under 101deg so we were able to keep him home for another day. His counts started to soar the next morning, just in time for a good stem cell harvest.
The most difficult part by far of this first round of chemo has been the shots, daily GCSF shots to boost Max’s white blood cells; Mark and I have to administer the shots. This part of our day really sucks! Max is sitting in the hospital now playing the Wii, all smiles and fun. The weather outside is gloomy and grey, he believes that the summer sunshine is waiting for him.
Posted on 27 July '10 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Although the surgeons were successful on their part of the tumor resection, Max’s oncologist was left to deliver the bad news that cancer tissue remained in an inoperable area of his head. The post op MRI shows that the cancer has invaded Max’s cavernous sinus, this is a tunnel into his skull, a small space that holds 7 major nerves and the carotid artery.
We went to the UCSD Moors cancer center yesterday to start Radiation engineering for Max to receive another 6weeks of radiation. Since this area has already received a maximum safe dose of radiation the odds go up exponentially that their will be damage to his optic nerve, carotid artery, and/or the nerves that control facial movement. The effects could be immediate or within the next few years.
On Monday Max had surgery to place a semi-permanent aphaeresis catheter that will be used to do a stemcell harvest, these cells will be banked for future transplants if needed. Max started chemotherapy yesterday and after about 4 hours he began to fade and feel cruddy and then slept for 15hrs. Poor little guy, it breaks my heart to sit here and watch him go through so much. He woke up this morning bright eyed and happy. 
Last weekend we crashed Dan and Sydney’s annual family reunion on the east coast at Rehoboth beach. Max had a great time with Syd at the beach and rode all the rides at fun land. Back on the west coast on Sunday Max had a surf lesson with his favorite instructor and buddies. As for me, I’m trying to keep working which isn’t easy but Qualcomm is allowing me work an intermittent as needed schedule which is really helpful. Mark has been going home everyday to take care of the pets but spending a most of his time at the hospital. He is redecorating the hospital room, brought in his big computer with some fancy software so he can watch our DVR from our home cable box, not sure how it works but its great. He also brought in the Wii and a lounge chair. I had to put the brakes on and limit the remodel to ensure we can get it all home in one car load. Some things never change, gotta love him for it.
Posted on 14 July '10 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max was biten by a vampire yesterday, at least that’s his story. He was punctured in his jugular and all his blood was sucked out. We are in Maryland this week to enter Max into a clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute. The trial doesn’t actually start until Max has completed approx 8mo of chemo and has no evidence of disease. The researchers will attempt to make a custom vaccine that will train Max’s t-cells to fight his cancer cells from the tissue that was resected 2weeks ago.
Max had a tube surgically implanted into his jugular and then via aphaeresis his blood siphoned through a centrifuge to extract his T-cells. It’s quite disturbing to watch all his blood leaving his body and rolling around a big machine before being put back in. The puncture site was pretty painful for Max to deal with and the entire procedure took 15hrs. Another brutal day for the Kleck family that we are glad to have behind us.
Max had a great 4th of July. It was hard to believe that only 11 days after surgery into his skull he was at the beach boogie boarding like a kamikaze, then at La Costa for kid jumpy’s followed by firworks with all his buddies. What an amazing kid. This weekend we will be taking Max to Rehoboth beach with Dan and Syd to try out the east coast beaches. Next week more surgery, scans, and chemo starts.
Posted on 8 July '10 by admin, under News. No Comments.
